How long does it take to succeed?

I posted a link to this Webcomics.com post on a Facebook Group for webcartoonists. In the post, I argue that we cartoonists shouldn’t focus on trying to get a million new readers. Rather, we need to focus on retaining those incidental readers who stumble across our sites every day — and slowly cultivate those people into fans. A webcartoonist — I’ll call her Ms X — took a different point of view. The exchange was fascinating, and I want to share it with you here so I can address one of the main topics it raises.